Hilton can be a human splash play

turnovers, six have been returned for touchdowns — four on interceptions, two on fumbles. No other team in the league yields splash plays like that to a defense.

And the Steelers have noticed.

“They haven’t had a lot of turnovers, but when they do people get the other way with it,” cornerback Joe Haden said. “When you get it in your hands, just try to get busy with it.”

The Steelers have only one scoring return this season and that came in the opener in Cleveland when Tyler Matakevich blocked a punt and Anthony Chickillo recovered in the end zone. And while they have seven interceptions among their 11 takeaways, none have had the potential to be a scoring return. Their total return yardage on interceptions is 38 yards.

That’s one of the reasons Tomlin talked about the team’s failure to “cash in” on splash plays, pointing up that “great teams seem to have a flair for the dramatic.”

“We just got to do a better job of creating turnovers, forcing fumbles,” said Haden, who has one interception and had another negated by penalty in Detroit. “It’s not about trying to go out of our way to make big plays, but some of the balls that hit us in the hands, if we pick those off we’d be in a better position.”

But the Steelers have to be careful about allowing splash plays, too. And that’s one of the few things the Colts (3-6) have done well.

Their big-play receiver, T.Y. Hilton, an Antonio Brown-type clone who led the NFL in receiving yards last season, doesn’t have as many targets (64) or receptions (34) as usual. And, until last weekend against the Houston Texans, had just one touchdown.

But that all changed for one afternoon against the Texans. Hilton caught five passes for 175 yards — his third 150-plus yard game of the season, tying him with Brown for most in the league — including touchdowns of 45 and 80 yards.

Hilton and Brown are friends because they grew up in the same area of Florida and even played on the same midget team, though not at the same time.

“They’re the same kind of receiver,” cornerback Artie Burns said. “They can get you down the field, they can catch the ball and get [yards after the catch] with it, they have a great relationship with their quarterbacks, they’re great catchers of the ball. They’re very similar.”

Burns, a No. 1 draft choice in 2016, spent all of last season and most of this summer’s training camp covering Brown in practice. He thinks it’s good preparation to cover Hilton and any of the smaller, quicker receivers in the league.

“You’re covering the best guy in the league,” Burns said. “He brings all the best attributes you can have in all the receivers. A.B. is really fast, he gets the ball at the highest point, he’s got great hands. Sometimes you go week to week and see receivers who have two of those of things or one of those things. Covering A.B., I see all those things at one time.”

Maybe the Steelers will start cashing in on some splash plays, too.